Prabhas’ ‘Salaar’ by ‘K.G.F.’ Director Shooting in Italy, Including Location Where Action Prologue for James Bond Film ‘No Time to Die’ Was Set

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rakuten TV has announced the launch of two new owned and operated FAST channels, bolstering its role as a curated channel programmer in the free ad-supported streaming TV services space. The channels, announced during MipTV’s FAST Summit, will see the growing pan-European video-on-demand streaming service enter the TV series landscape by launching a reality/factual entertainment channel in the U.K. and crime series channels across German speaking territories and in France, Italy and Spain. Rakuten’s Real channel which was launched in the U.K. on April 12, will feature shows such as culinary bootcamp series “Worst Cooks in America”; reality show “My New BFF”, with Paris Hilton; and “Undercover Boss.”

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Beta at MipTV has unveiled a visually dazzling first trailer for period drama “La Storia” that will be Italian pubcaster RAI’s biggest event show this year. The sweeping eight-episode saga is based on a globally bestselling novel by the late great Elsa Morante – whom “My Brilliant Friend” author Elena Ferrante often cites as her primary literary reference – set during the final years of World War II and its immediate aftermath in Italy. Dierected by Francesca Archibugi (“The Hummingbird”), the high-end show stars Italian A-list actor Jasmine Trinca – who last year was a member of the Cannes jury – as Ida, a single mother of two sons, who hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution. The cast also comprises Asia Argento (“xXx – Triple X”), Elio Germano (“Leopardi”) and Valerio Mastandrea (“Perfect Strangers”).

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent British director Joe Wright, who helmed Winston Churchill drama “Darkest Hour” – which earned Gary Oldman an Oscar for his portrayal as the British prime minister – has now changed historical sides.  Wright is at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios shooting high-end TV drama “M. Son of the Century” which chronicles Benito Mussolini’s rise to power. A timely tale because, as he puts it: “Populist leaders are sprouting up all over the world.”  Aesthetically, the show will be “quite outlandish” with deeply saturated colors, punctuated by a “kind of techno score,” the director said during a recent set visit. Though “It’s not told in a vérité style,” Wright pointed out that “All the facts of what happened, they’re all there.” 

A casting director who will help select the next actor to play James Bond in the popular film franchise laid out one major requirement for Daniel Craig‘s replacement.

James Bond casting director Debbie McWilliams has said young actors lack the “gravitas” and “mental capacity” to play 007.In an interview with RadioTimes.com, McWilliams, who has been the franchises’ casting director since 1981, explained why young actors hadn’t worked out during auditions for 2006’s Casino Royale.“When we started, it was a slightly different feel,” McWilliams told the outlet. “We did look at a lot of younger actors, and I just don’t think they had the gravitas, they didn’t have the experience, they didn’t have the mental capacity to take it on, because it’s not just the part they’re taking on, it’s a massive responsibility.“So we kind of scrubbed that idea and went back to the drawing board and started again.”Daniel Craig was aged 37 when he was cast as James Bond for Casino Royale.

This year, the search for Daniel Craig’s James Bond replacement will begin and, while rumours about a younger 007 were previously squashed by franchise producer Michael G. Wilson, longtime casting director, Debbie McWilliams, is further elaborating, explaining why young actors typically don’t fit the iconic role as opposed to those in their thirties.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director A new James Bond is on the way following Daniel Craig’s exit in “No Time to Die.” While rumors circulated last year that a younger actor was being courted and that the age of 007 would decrease considerably from Craig’s era, such claims were squashed by franchise producer Michael G. Wilson. He assured fans the new Bond would a “thirty-something” actor, keeping with Craig’s age range when he started his run as 007 in 2006’s “Casino Royale.” In a new interview with Radio Times, longtime James Bond casting director Debbie McWilliams explained why younger actors usually don’t fit when it comes to finding a new James Bond. “When we started, it was a slightly different feel,” McWilliams said about the last search for a new 007 that ended with Craig’s selection. “We did look at a lot of younger actors, and I just don’t think they had the gravitas. They didn’t have the experience, they didn’t have the mental capacity to take it on, because it’s not just the part they’re taking on, it’s a massive responsibility.”

the suave spy as opposed to older actors.“When we started, it was a slightly different feel,” McWilliams told  Radio Times recently.“We did look at a lot of younger actors, and I just don’t think they had the gravitas.”McWilliams said that with the big part comes big responsibility.“They didn’t have the experience, they didn’t have the mental capacity to take it on, because it’s not just the part they’re taking on, it’s a massive responsibility,” she explained.“So we kind of scrubbed that idea and went back to the drawing board and started again.”Daniel Craig was the most recent A-lister to play Bond, having begun with 2006’s “Casino Royale” and ending his run with 2021’s “No Time To Die.”The “Knives Out” star, 55, was in his mid-30s when he was first cast in the early 2000s.The world of Bond started cranking out films in 1962 with the flick “Dr. No,” starring Sean Connery.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Pedro Almodóvar’s hotly anticipated short “Strange Way of Life” has secured its first deal ahead of its Cannes Film Festival world premiere next month. In the project’s first announced multi-territory deal MUBI — the indie streamer, distributor and producer — has acquired all rights for Italy and Latin America. Pathe will be releasing the film in the U.K. under a longstanding agreement. Shot in southern Spain’s Tabernas desert, “Strange Way of Life” stars Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal as two gunmen who reunite after 25 years. The half-hour film has been described by Almodóvar as a “queer Western, in the sense that there are two men and they love each other,” the director said last December on Dua Lipa’s “At Your Service” podcast. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rome’s Cinecittà Studios are generating a profit for the first time in years amid a radical upgrade, overhaul, and expansion of the filming facilities where Hollywood productions are now flocking on a scale that is starting to be comparable with its glory days. Roland Emmerich last month started shooting his gladiator series “Those About to Die” starring Anthony Hopkins as Emperor Vespasian; Joe Wright is in the midst of production on TV series “M,” about Benito Mussolini’s rise to power; and in January cameras started rolling in the “City of Cinema” on Netflix’s period soap “The Decameron.” These are among the biggest international productions lured by the storied studios in recent years, also thanks to Italy’s 40% cash back tax rebate.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Italian government’s decision on Friday to ban artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT – becoming the world’s first country to block the chatbot – is sparking local controversy. The move is being criticized within the government itself just as Italy’s entertainment industry is up in arms against Silicon Valley on several other fronts. Italy’s Data Protection Authority on Friday said it had ordered California-based OpenAI to temporarily block the country’s internet users from gaining access to ChatGPT following a verified data breach that it claims represents a possible violation of European Union data protection rules.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Andrea Scrosati, who is group COO and continental Europe CEO of Fremantle, isn’t too worried about various types of turbulence that are currently creating anxiety in the U.S. media market such as draconian cost cuts being made by juggernaut groups and the impending prospect of a Writers Guild of America strike. Speaking in Italy at a panel titled “Less is More – What to Do When the Streaming Boom is Over” Scrosati noted that the effect of market consolidation in the U.S. and fear due to plunging stock market results that is prompting cost cuts at Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery certainly means that “some of the big buyers are in a conflict.”

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Bobby Moresco, who won an Oscar as co-writer of “Crash,” and more recently directed “Lamborghini – The Man Behind the Legend,” is set to direct the biopic “Maserati: A Racing Life” about the family that in 1914 started making the high-performance Maserati automobiles in a garage in Bologna. Like “Lamborghini,” the Maserati origins movie is being produced by Andrea Iervolino’s ILBE Group, in which he is partnered with Monika Bacardi. ILBE has taken a liking for films about Italy’s iconic automakers. They are also among producers of Micheal Mann’s upcoming “Ferrari” with Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz and Shailene Woodley. 

James Bond in the 1980s.The Game Of Thrones actor explained in an interview with the Guardian how he considered gunning for the part after Roger Moore stepped down from the role following 1985’s A View To A Kill, until his agent convinced him otherwise.Asked about a rumour that he turned down the role of 007, Dance said: “No, of course I didn’t turn down James Bond! What happened was, my agent called and said: ‘I urge you not to do it. Just think how you’ll feel if you don’t get it.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Fremantle is restructuring management of its Italian operations by promoting Marco Tombolini to the role of CEO Fremantle Italy. Tombolini, who since May of 2022 was Fremantle Italy co-CEO, will now “Take the helm of all areas and functions of the company, with the senior management of Fremantle Italy reporting directly to him,” a Fremantle statement said. Gabriele Immirzi – who had long served as Fremantle Italy CEO prior to sharing the CEO role with Tombolini since last May – has now stepped down but is staying in the Fremantle fold becoming co-CEO with Lorenzo Mieli of The Apartment Pictures.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Venice Film Festival will honor “The Night Porter” director Liliana Cavani and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, the Hong Kong star of “In the Mood for Love” and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” with its 2023 Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement. Cavani first attended Venice in 1965 with the historical doc “Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy,” which won the Lion of San Marco for best documentary. She was back the Lido in 1966 with her TV movie “Saint Francis of Assisi,” and, again, in 1968, with “Galileo,” followed by Patricia Highsmith adaptation “Ripley’s Game,” starring John Malkovich, in 2002 and “Clarisse,” a doc about an order of cloistered nuns in 2012.

told the UK’s Express. “I mean, she could be 006, 008 or 009 … It wouldn’t be the same because it’s Bond. It’s Fleming’s Bond.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Los Angeles-based Italian director Andrea Pallaoro’s delicate drama “Monica” is finally set to open in U.S. theaters via IFC following its world premiere at last year’s Venice Film Festival. The film starring transgender actor Trace Lysette (“Transparent”) as a woman who returns home to the Midwest to care for her dying mother, played by Patricia Clarkson, marked the first time an openly-transgender actress headlined a Venice competition title. In “Monica” Lysette plays a woman who from Los Angeles goes back to her suburban midwest home for the first time since she was a teenager to care for her mom who had rejected her when she transitioned.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian director Susanna Nicchiarelli, whose trilogy of female biopics, “Nico, 1988,” “Miss Marx,” and “Chiara” all launched from the Venice Film Festival, is set to direct the TV series “Fireworks” depicting the struggle of Italy’s partisans against Nazis and Fascists through the point of view of a twelve-year-old girl named Marta. Shooting is set to start on May 8 in the Piedmontese Alps on “Fireworks,” which is being produced by Domenico Procacci’s Fandango and Rome shingle Matrioska. Fandango, who is the show’s lead producer, is in advanced talks with Italian state broadcaster RAI to come on board. Fandango is also talking up the six-episode limited series at the Series Mania confab in Lille, France, where they are seeking prospective international partners.

Daisy May Cooper is said to be in talks to join the James Bond franchise, as spy chief ‘M’, a role previously portrayed by Dame Judi Dench and Ralph Fiennes. The This Country creator and star, 36, is thought to be top of the list of potential Ms, with producers looking to take the franchise, and its characters, in a different direction with the upcoming film.The casting would coincide with a new leading man as well, with Daniel Craig departing the franchise following the release of No Time To Die in 2021.